Departed Packers: Where did they wind up and what does it mean?

The Packers added valuable prospects in the 2011 NFL Draft and re-signed wide receiver James Jones and fullback John Kuhn, but there were a handful of players the team lost last week. Here’s a look at where those players wound up, what it means for those teams and how it will affect the Packers in 2011.

Daryn Colledge: Arizona Cardinals — 5 years, $27.5 million

Why he left the Packers: A common theme with all the Packers who left via free agency is that the Packers simply could not afford them. This is certainly the case with Colledge, who leaves Green Bay after five successful seasons. The money was not there, as seen by the contract Arizona gave him, and the Packers had viable (and cheaper) replacements in Derek Sherrod, T.J. Lang, Nick McDonald and Marshall Newhouse.

Why he joined the Cardinals: Colledge received a big payday as an injury-free starting left guard on a Super Bowl team, replacing long-time veteran Alan Faneca, who retired at season’s end. He will start from day one, protecting new quarterback Kevin Kolb and blocking for Beanie Wells. The Cardinals are starting fresh, in a sense, with Kolb and Colledge is now a piece of that.

What it means for the Packers: Ted Thompson clearly believes in the candidates at left guard, as the money was there for the Packers to bring back Colledge. The rookie Sherrod has seen first team reps during the first week of practice, and Lang, McDonald and Newhouse should make for healthy competition.

Brandon Jackson: Cleveland Browns — 2 years, $4.5 million

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Super Bowl champion Packers set to visit White House on August 12

The Green Bay Packers announced Wednesday that the team will make its long awaited trip to the White House on Friday, Aug. 12, just one day before they open their preseason schedule at Cleveland.

The visit to meet with the President, a tradition for all major sport champions, had been delayed due to the NFL’s lockout, which forbade coaches and players from contacting each other.

Cornerback Charles Woodson created playful controversy in a post-game address to the team after the Packers defeated the Bears 21-14 in the NFC Championship Game.

He told the team, in regards to Obama, a Chicago native and Bears fan, not traveling to Dallas to watch the team in Super Bowl XLV: “If the President don’t wanna come see us play, we’ll go see him.”

Woodson will now get that chance to go see the President, but his former teammates will not.

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